The Major Road Network (MRN) is a classification of local authority roads in England. It incorporates the

National Highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all f ...

-controlled Strategic Road Network (SRN) and the more major

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

controlled

A roads A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads are graded A, B and sometimes lower c ...

. This network accounts for around 4 per cent of the nation's road length but 43 per cent of the traffic flows. It is designed to allow central government funding to be more effectively targeted towards the more economically critical road infrastructure. The system was proposed by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund in October 2017 and adopted by the government in its 2017 Transport Investment Strategy. The MRN scheme was implemented in late 2018 and local authorities were required to submit proposals for £3.5 billion of funding for new schemes to be constructed 2020-25.

2016 Rees Jeffreys Road Fund report

The creation of the Major Road Network was proposed in the October 2016 Rees Jeffreys Road Fund report ''A Major Road Network for England'' written by David Quarmby and

Phil Carey Philip Carey (born Eugene Joseph Carey, July 15, 1925February 6, 2009) was an American actor. Early life and education On July 15, 1925, Carey was born in Hackensack, New Jersey. The authors stated that the existing

Highways England National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all f ...

(now National Highways) Strategic Road Network (SRN), which accounts for 2 per cent of England's roads but 33 per cent of its traffic did not sufficiently safeguard the economically-critical parts of the road network. The remaining 98 per cent of the network is currently under the control of 153 separate

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. Quarmby and Carey proposed a new classification of roads combining the SRN with of the most important local authority

. This expanded network would account for 43 per cent of the nation's traffic and 4 per cent of its road length. Quarmby and Carey proposed that A roads with average daily traffic flows in excess of 20,000 vehicles be included into the MRN along with roads with average daily traffic flows in excess of 10,000 where more than 5 per cent of traffic was heavy goods vehicles or more than 15 per cent were light goods vehicles. Additional roads were added to link all towns with a population in excess of 50,000 persons to the network, remove isolated sections of road and reflect predicted growth to 2040. The MRN would be separated into four tiers: *Tier 1 –

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

s devoted to movement between major urban areas and subject to the highest speeds *Tier 1A – limited-access roads in urban areas with heavier traffic flows, more frequent junctions and require more oversight by a regional authority or city *Tier 2 – multiple-access roads, usually rural A roads which link secondary urban areas but may have frontages and local access uses *Tier 3 – multiple-access major roads in urban areas, often with a mix of user types and conflicting movements Quarmby and Carey did not propose transferring responsibility for the MRN from the current maintainers and operators to an enlarged Highways England but suggested that Highways England surpluses resulting from the reallocation of

Vehicle Excise Duty Vehicle Excise Duty (VED; also known as "vehicle tax", "car tax", and more controversially as " road tax", and formerly as a "tax disc") is an annual tax that is levied as an excise duty and which must be paid for most types of powered vehicles whi ...

receipts to the organisation could be forwarded to local authorities to support the maintenance of the network. The proposal was designed to work hand-in-hand with the regional devolution of transport under the new sub-national transport bodies (

Transport for the North Transport for the North (TfN) is the first statutory sub-national transport body in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. Creating this body represented an ...

, Midlands Connect and England's Economic Heartland). As it stands the local authority roads network, accounting for 98 per cent of the nation's road length faces declining central government funding and a confusing system of applying for capital expenditure. There is a significant difference in funding available for the HE SRN and the economically-critical local authority major roads. The greater use of technology-driven solutions for MRN roads was also suggested, in a similar way to how the SRN has seen more technology investment, such as with smart motorways.

2017 Department for Transport consultation

In December 2017 the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

(DfT) issued a report, entitled ''Moving Britain Ahead'', which outlined further details of the proposed MRN which the government had committed to earlier in 2017 within its Transport Investment Strategy. The government's aims were to reduce congestion, support economic growth in the regions, increase housebuilding outputs, meet the needs of all road users and to create resilience within the network. A public consultation on questions of the principles behind the MRN, the criteria used to define the MRN and the proposed funding ran until March 2018.

Implementation

The Major Road Network was implemented in late 2018 when the DfT issued maps of the roads to local authorities. The maps were not released to the public. The DfT called for local authorities to submit bids so that 10 top priority schemes in each region could be considered for funding in the 2020-25 budget period. £3.5 billion was made available from the DfT's National Roads Fund, though there is a requirement for a 15% contribution from local authority or third party sources. The submissions deadline was Summer 2019. The network has since been published with the data being made available for download.

References

{{Reflist Roads in England Transport policy in the United Kingdom